


Rock and a hard place

by VolunteerFieryDantooinian



Category: Hooten & the Lady (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hooten is a terrible patient, Hurt/Comfort, Romantic if you squint, Sarcasm, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-05 17:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolunteerFieryDantooinian/pseuds/VolunteerFieryDantooinian
Summary: In which Hooten hears a RUDE AWAKENING because he can't take care of himself. Alex has to step in.(the rock is his lack of self-preservation, and the hard place is his unwillingness to admit maybe he's not as invincible as the facade he projects, she decides.)





	Rock and a hard place

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry, I just really, really wanted to make that joke.  
> I based all of the Vancouver Island stuff off of real things by the way! It sounded pretty cool.

Hooten was never this bad about returning her texts.

It hadn't been long since she'd asked him to meet her at her hotel room, and listed the name of the hotel and her room number. He'd sent a simple, humorous little text that she still couldn't get over:

_ill be right there ;))))_

Holy hell, that man could be infuriating. He hadn't responded since, which would be fine on most occasions, but it had been four hours, and there was no sign of him. Not even gunshots from the street or something equally ominous. She'd texted him to make sure he was ok about an hour ago, and he still hadn't responded yet. 

Alex paced her decent-sized, dim room. The museum had booked her a one-person suite, which was nice, especially with the lounging room that had a particularly nice sofa Hooten could crash on if he felt the need. Usually she tried to keep her rooms as simple and cost-efficient as possible, but since she'd known Hooten, she'd tried to accommodate the fact that he had a tendency to show up at random times. Especially considering that when he  _did_ show up completely randomly, he tended to be hurt, drunk, or very, very bored.

It was almost endearing, in kind of an annoying way.

A loud knock, more of a smack, really, startled her out of her slightly worried thoughts.  _Took you long enough,_ she thought, and answered the door with a smirk. 

"Funny seeing you here." She snarked, and Hooten rolled his eyes and grinned easily at her. 

"Sorry,  _m'lady._ I got a little held up," His voice had a tired edge to it, and though she knew he was being funny, he likely wasn't kidding about being held up. It was usual for him to be late, but not that late. "Let me guess. You've got us a lead?" He walked in casually, closing the door behind him in case another murderous Frenchman tried to sabotage their mission.

"Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't come all the way to Vancouver Island if I wasn't able to get more leads on something that seemed like, at first, a flimsy local legend," Alex enthused. "It's actually quite fascinating. There's legitimate evidence that there's a hidden, historic gold mine somewhere around the north end of the island. And if that turns out to be false, I have a trail on a hidden tunnel in the little ghost-town prospector's village, Leechtown." 

Normally, Hooten's eyes would light up at the sheer mention of gold, but he just seemed slightly excited instead of his full-on kid in a candy shop look. There was definitely something off; there were dark circles under his eyes, more so than normal, and looked pretty pale. He looked tired. "Am I boring you to sleep?" She joked, and grinned.

"Oh, absolutely." He exclaimed dramatically. Ok, at least his sarcasm was normal. 

"In all seriousness, are you alright, Hooten? You don't look like you've slept well." Concern colored her voice, and he frowned in a closed-off manner.

"I'd be lying if I said that I had, but I'm alright," he shrugged. "So what's the plan for the mission?" It was clear he was trying to change the topic, and an odd feeling flooded through her. There was definitely something off, but she would ignore it for now.

"Well, I'm personally thinking we need to consult the locals first. We don't want to disrespect anyone's beliefs or ancestry, considering how well things have gone before. And make sure we aren't breaking too many laws." She mused, and he nodded. They discussed the ins and outs of rule-breaking for a while, but it was very clear something was off about Hooten today. It looked like he'd gotten paler, more lethargic, and his responses were either tired sarcasm or simple, 1 to 2 word answers. 

"Hooten, you can tell me if you don't feel well. You should know that by now." Alex said, using a soft, gentle tone that was still slightly firm. Otherwise, he wouldn't listen to her. His reaction wasn't what she thought it would be. Instead of being an arse, he just let out a tired, almost  _pained_ sigh and closed his eyes, looking unsteady on his feet. He swayed precariously, and she gave him a worried look, rather alarmed.

She wrapped a reassuring arm around his back and led him firmly over to the couch. He practically fell onto it, grimacing as he leaned back. "Are you hurt?" There was too much worry in her voice and she knew it. 

"I'm.. I'm just a little bruised up." He mumbled, clearly exhausted. "an' it's freezing." His voice was pained and rough, and he started coughing, heavy and evidently painful. 

She frowned, and almost instinctively, she pushed his hair back and pressed her palm to his forehead. 

"Hooten, you're positively burning up. Why didn't you say something? You've got to tell me when there's something wrong." She half-scolded, and he looked at her with tired eyes.

"No I don't." He snarked, giving her a surprisingly coherent, cheeky grin. She huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Jacket off, now. Those gloves go too. I need to see how badly you're hurt." Alex said, firmly now, but still worried.

"Yes, ma'am." He tried to play innocent, but did as she told him. Honestly, it really wasn't as bad as she expected it to be. His knuckles were split and bleeding, and there was an impressive bruise blooming on his collarbone, but everything else truly were just superficial cuts and scrapes. She suspected he had a few under his shirt he wasn't telling her about, based on the pained expression he got whenever he moved, but she didn't want to overreach. 

She noticed he was shivering, which made a soft, almost painful twinge of pity tug at her heartstrings. 

"Hold on a minute." She said quietly, and he curled up a little bit more on the couch, giving her a little nod that told her he was listening. 

She walked into her bedroom and grabbed a blanket and her first-aid kit. It was easy to tell he didn't feel well, and something in her hated that.

Carefully, she started to bandage his left hand, which was significantly worse for wear. There was a minor cut running across his ring finger and down his palm. "Disinfecting this is going to hurt, alright?" She warned, and he scoffed a little, rolling his eyes, but didn't say anything. She gently dabbed at the cut with a decent amount of the stuff, but he winced hard, eyes slightly hazy. If he was reacting this way to a cut, he had to be pretty unwell.

Alex finished fixing him up and gently pulled the blanket around his shoulders. She pulled out the thermometer and gave him a soft, but stern glance. "Open your mouth." He clearly tried not to laugh, likely biting back a wisecrack of some sort. She rolled her eyes and he stuck out his tongue at her. She used that opportunity to stick it in his mouth fast enough to get a temperature reading. "38.4," a frown spread across her face as she read the temp. "You, mister Hooten, are running a pretty impressive fever. How long have you felt ill?" 

He shrugged, giving her a guilty look. 

"A couple days. My immune system isn't the greatest." Hooten winced, and coughed painfully. Her eyes widened.

"And you've been galavanting around in this  _freezing_ weather and that thin jacket for that long? No wonder you look like shit," She fussed, then frowned when she realized she sounded like her mother. "You utter moron." There. That was better.

Hooten feigned a hurt look, then an actually hurt look flickered across his face, and she knew it wasn't because of the insult. Catching him off-guard, she ran both of her hands down his sides, checking for any bad bruises, or god forbid, anything broken. He flinched away from her touch and she knew he'd gotten hurt worse than he was letting on. "I'll get you some ice." 

Alex walked down the hallway to the ice machine, grabbing one of the bags and twisting it worriedly as she filled it. The sound drowned out her worry for a few minutes, but she still didn't want to leave Hooten alone for too long. Just in case.

She hurried back to the room and found him half asleep on her couch. "Hooten, I got you ice." She stood there, not even crossing her arms like she normally would. He startled into full consciousness, eyes wide and almost slightly scared. She handed him the bag and his hands almost slipped, but he pressed it to his side and made a relieved sighing noise. It made him cough, wheezing a bit as he tried to catch his breath. 

"Why are you doing this?" He asked quietly, and she sat down next to him. 

"Because I care about you. You're my friend, Hooten, and contrary to popular belief, I don't want you dead." She said softly, trying to joke as much as possible while still being heartfelt. He nodded a little bit. It was clear he was very tired and didn't feel well, and the slightly pained look on his face sent a wave of sympathy rolling through her. "You look miserable." 

"I am." He admitted, almost looking embarrassed at the fact, and she scooted slightly closer to him. Slowly, like she was approaching a wounded animal, she gently rested her hand on his back, and when he didn't have much of a response, she started rubbing slow, methodic circles into the spot right between his shoulder blades.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alex inquired softly after a couple of minutes of this. He shrugged. 

"It wasn't that bad, really." There was something so nonchalant, yet so exhausted about his voice that she almost wanted to hug him, but she resisted that urge.

"Hooten, you evidently got hurt on your way here, and you were already ill. It got bad, but you didn't tell me about it. I worry about you," She said quietly. "Especially when you go picking fights when you're sick. Why weren't you responding?"

He hesitated visibly.

"I, uh, well, obviously I was fighting, but I may or may not have blacked out." Hooten admitted quietly, and she had to resist the urge to slap him. 

"You could've died, Hooten!" Alex exclaimed, and he tried to say something, but started coughing instead, his whole body trembling. She steadied him with a hand on his shoulder and rubbed his back, pulling the blanket closer around him. "It's okay. Just focus on breathing, alright? In and out." She demonstrated, taking a slow, deep breath and releasing it just as slowly. He was shaking pretty badly, but he managed to do the same, and stopped coughing. "You know what, come on. I'm not making you sleep on this damned couch." 

Alex wrapped a sturdy arm around his back and pulled him to his feet, and the blood drained from his face. Quickly but carefully, she lead him to the bed, and not even a foot from it he swayed dangerously, and she could barely prevent him from falling to the floor. She half-dragged him to her bed and very carefully helped him lie down, pulling the blankets over him.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Her voice had a quiet note of concern, and she gently pressed the ice back against his side. Absentmindedly, she ran her fingers through his dark hair. His eyes widened slightly, but he didn't flinch, just sat up a little more. 

Worriedly, she pressed her hand to his forehead again. He was still very warm, and honestly, she didn't know why she expected anything else. He leaned into her touch ever so slightly.

"I feel like I got hit by a damn truck. And that's coming from someone who knows what that feels like." Hooten groaned, and she squeezed his hand gently, sitting down next to him on the bed. He didn't seem to mind.

"You poor thing," Alex murmured, and as an afterthought added "Bet you regret picking that fight now, huh?" She stroked his hair in a comforting, platonic manner, half-teasing him.

"Fuck you." He said quietly. There was no malice in it, and he rested his head on her shoulder, coughing a few times. She didn't say anything about it, just sat there with him, and resumed rubbing his back. He seemed to appreciate her little gestures of caring, not that he'd ever admit it.

And as he dozed off in her hotel bed, sick and hurt and exhausted, she wouldn't have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic for this very small fandom, please let me know what you thought.


End file.
